Factors Influencing Enterprise ESG Performance

Abstract

This paper discusses the factors which influence the environmental, social, and governance performance of enterprises by reviewing previous studies. The article is analyzed from the external and internal environment of enterprises and developed from three dimensions: social institution, policy, and executives characteristics. Social institution and policy are external environments, and executives characteristic is the internal environment. The factor of social institutions, political institutions, labor institutions, and cultural institutions are discussed. They will be detailed on corruption, unemployment rate, labor protection, social cohesion, and equal opportunities. Unemployment rate and labor protection pose a positive impact on enterprise ESG performance, while high levels of country corruption, social cohesion, and equal opportunities contribute to negative ESG performance. Spanish, French, and Japanese enterprises are listed as an example. Spanish and French firms have similar levels of social and corporate governance performance, while Japanese firms are more committed to environmental issues due to cultural institutional differences. In the factor of policy, the article focuses on the positive influence of Chinas environmental regulation on technology innovation in the paper industry. The factor of executives characteristics, international background, and diversity, specifically in female proportion, of corporate executives are helpful to enterprise ESG performance. ESG performance is influenced by the external and internal environment of the enterprise. There is a mutual promotion between external and internal environments. This paper analyzing several factors will provide a reference for developing enterprise ESG performance in different countries.